Matthew 4

Matthew 4:1-11

When Jesus entered upon his ministry, John is fierce beard of again, as the slave disappear when the sun orzes. We have in this chapter, 1. The temptation Christ underwants, the triple against the tempter made upon him, and the repaity he gave to each affauds, ver. 1—11. 2. The teaching word he undertook, the places he preached in, ver. 12—16. and the Christ he preached in, ver. 17. 3. His calling of disciples, Peter and dedeven, James and John, ver. 18—22. 4. His curing of disciples, ver. 23, 24, and the great reject of people to him, hath to be taught and to be healed.

1. THEN was ‘Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness,’ to be tempted of the devil. 2. And when he had failed forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungred. 3. And when the temper came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4. But he answered and said, It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and fetteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. And faith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in thee hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7. Jesus said unto him, ‘It is written again, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them: 9. And faith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fail down and worship me. 10. Then faith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve: 11. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and minifred unto him.

Jesus being now prepared for the battle, enters the lifts against the great enemy of souls, whose kingdom he came to destroy. We have,

1. The time of this conflict. Then, immediately after he had received the attribution of God to his Sunday, and the fulness of the Spirit for the exercise of his office as Mediator. Note, (1.) Before God calls us into temptation, he will furnish us with spiritual strength. (2.) Great manifestations are often the prelude to our feverish conflicts. (3.) The confidence of our adoption of God will be the most effectual shield to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

2. The place. In the wilderness; far from the abode of men, amidst lonely waffles, where only the savages of the forest roamed, to give the enemy every advantage against him, and therein more gloriously to display his own power and all-sufficiency. The first man fell in a paradise of delights; the second man stood unmoved against every blast of temptation, firm as the rocks of the wilderness, his present dreary dwelling.

3. The preparation to the combat. He was led up of the Spirit, by a divine impulse on his mind, into the higher, more mountainous, and uninhabited part of the country; and this with design to meet the tempter, and defeat all his wiles. And hereunto he condescended, (1.) That feeling what fore temptations mean, he might be a compassionate high-priest, having been tempted in all points as we are, only without sin. (2.) To encourage us to trust him in every time of need. He who defeated that enemy once himself, can by the time strength make us more than conquerors. Forty days, like Moses in the mount, he continued there alone, and without substance; at last he felt all those acute ravings of hunger which, as man, he was subject to in common with us, and which gave the enemy another advantage against him, and rendered the Redeemer’s triumphs more illustrious. The first representative of mankind, when wellcoming in placing, was tempted by one forbidden tree; the last covenant head of his people, though far-fitting for want, is deaf to every solicitation of the wicked one.

4. The temptations themselves; a thousand cord, and yet broken with men. The design of them was to make Christ’s confidence in God, and, and him to some dishonourable day, which,

which, had it been possible, must have utterly unqualified him for the work of redemption.

(1.) In the first temptation the devil sought to lead him to a distrust of God’s providential care and goodness; and, in order thereto, the tempter came to him. He had by his fierce suggestions, during the forty days before, sought to disturb the mind of Jesus, but in vain; now therefore he assumes a visible form; nor such a fearful figure as our early misguided apprehensions suggest, and our delusive prints hold him forth, but some pleasing human shape, or perhaps transformed into an angel of light. The tempter well knew the circumstances of our Lord, and directs his assault where the weakest side appeared; he hoped the cravings of hunger might lead him to some undue means of relief. Thus vigilant and crafty is the wily adversary to suit his temptation to our situation and condition; and particularly in want and distress, to suggest some sinful expedient to extricate ourselves from our troubles, without wasting God’s leisure, or confiding his will. He often says, Better Real than starve, though God says, ’tis better die than sin. He prefaces his temptation with a fly infatuation; If thee be the Son of God, as if he doubted the fact, though so lately the voice from heaven had affirmed it; and he desired to shake the fact of Jesus, suggesting, that if this really were the case, it was inconceivable that God would leave such a one to starve in the wilderness. Or, being thou art the Son of God, he admits the fact, and wishes to see a present exertion of his divine power in a miracle to necessary for his own support; immoral that objections he made bread. Note, (1.) The great battery of the devil is railed against our faith; for if the foundation of our confidence be taken, the superstructure must need to enter. He is ever striking at this to make the children of God doubt their adaption; and, in order thereto, he urges against them sometimes their outward distresses, sometimes their inward weakness and infirmities, as if both the one and the other were inconsistent with the relation they claim. (2.) If once the enemy can engage us to entertain hard thoughts of God, then he is sure to prevail.

Christ repels the assaults of the wicked one with the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and therein reaches us how to ward off the like temptation. He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that pretends out of the mouth of God. The Lord hath other ways of supporting men’s bodies than by bread merely; and therefore it was not so abslavely necessary for his influence, but that he could be supported without it; nor would he at Satan’s instigation do that which might look like distrust of his Father’s care, doubt of his word, or suspicion of his relation to him. Note, (1.) The written word is the only rule of our faith and practice: if Christ himself adhered to that alone, let no pretences of the Spirit’s superior teaching lead us off from this sure guide. (2.) God’s time is the best time, and he that believeth will not make help; will take no rush step for his own relief under his trials, but patiently expect the salvation of God.

(2.) The first attack being repelled, a second is prepared: since he cannot lead the Saviour to distrust or despair, he will try to pull him up with presumption. So unwearied is the tempter, and often changing his wiles, according to our circumstances, from one extreme to the other.

He taketh him up, by divine permission, with the content of Jesus, who suffered the devil to have such power over his body, and to carry him, into the holy city, Jerusalem, to called from the peculiar privileges it enjoyed of God’s worship and ordinances, and let him upon a pinnacle or wing of the temple; one of the battlements probably, which was of an immense height. And since Jesus had expressed such confidence in his Father, and unshaken dependence on his word, he grounds thereon his temptation: If thou be the Son of God, egit thyself devon, and give an uncontrollable proof of it to the priests and people worshipping below, who will no doubt receive thee as the Messiah, when thus coming as if immediately from heaven into the temple: nor will there be any danger in the experiment, since it is written, and therein thou art fully satisfied, He shall give his angels, &c. The application of which words to Christ was right; but a part of the text is artfully suppressed, in all thy ways; for out of the way of duty we may never hope for protection. And it is misapplied, being designed not to tempt men to rush into temptation, presuming upon the divine care; but to engage the faithful to trust God in time of trial, affixed of divine support. From all which we may observe, (1.) That one grand tongue of the tempter is, to make our heads giddy by setting us up on high. The pinnacle of the temple is a dangerous exaltation. Those who are eminent in station, fortune, or reputation; advanced to dignities in church or flare; or distinguished with abilities, gifts, graces, or even success in their ministry; need to tremble for themselves, and the higher they stand, to cleave the father to Jesus their temple, left their exaltation prove these destruction. (2.) Though the devil can tempt, he cannot compel. Sin is our own act; and without our consent the most disrempations fasten not the least evil on our confidences. Should we be tempted to the greatest crimes, to self-mander, or blat-

phemy, the Son of God was himself thus tempted, yet without sin. (3.) Scriptures may be suggested by the enemy to the minds of God’s people, much to their distress and discouragement on the one hand, or, on the other, to lull their consciences in fatal security; therefore we must march the scriptures diligently, that we may know what is God’s mind therein, and be kept from those dangerous errors and delusions, which often the scriptures are vouched to patronize. (4.) We must never separate the means from the end, nor expect out of God’s way the protection of his providence and grace. Though Jesus is a Saviour to the utterance, we may not in that grace may abound; and predestination to life eternal necessarily includes the diligent improvement of all the means peculiar to make our election sure.

The same word of truth supplies our Lord with a full conduction of Satan’s sophistry; for in the scriptures there is an answer ready for every case; and we can be in no circumstance or temptation, but that word will afford us directions, strength, and comfort. It is written again, Thus shall not tempt the Lord thy God. The tempter had laid, It is written; but the scripture cannot contradict itself, and therefore to know the mind of God, we must compare spiritual things with spiritual, and not mutilate the word of truth, nor apply it contrary to the intention of the Spirit. To trail God is duty; to tempt him is sinful. Christ needed no confirmation of what he was already affirmed; nor was he called unnecessarily to make an experiment of God’s power in such a miraculous preservation.

(3.) Once more, though harsed, the enemy returns to the charge; and summoning up all his force in one blow, by the most glaring display of this world’s glory tempt our Lord to the horrid crime of idolatry. The forfeit of our temptations is sometimes referred for the last, that God’s power and grace may be more gloriously displayed, and the devil’s malice must bitterly disappointed.

Again the devil taketh him up, probably transported him thru’ the air, into an exceeding high mountain, that the fictitious scene he was about to display might appear real; and they to forward him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. Whatever grandeur, wealth, pleasure, neglect in them, were set before him in the most unhearded colours, to catch his fancy, and engage his admiration: and all these he professes to believe on him, on one condition, which thus dread, without any such reward, were daily doing; if thou with full devon and worship me, A proposal to horrid, as would not bear a thought, and is rejected with destitution: Get thee bread, Satan; such insistence provoked the Saviour’s righteous indignation, and he drives the tempter from his pretence, unable to endure such a daring attempt upon the majesty of Jehovah, the only object of worship; for it is written, Thou hast worship the Lord thy God, and him only hast thou serve. Note, (1.) The minds of God’s greatest saints may be sometimes hartsed with the most blasphemous suggestions, and they should not court this as if some strange thing happened unto them. (2.) The glory of the world is the grand snare the enemy lays for men’s souls; and it looks very desirable to the eye of sense; but faith sees through the delusion, beholds vanity flamped on every thing should the sun, and scorns all this which Satan offers as dung and hell, compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and the glories of his grace. (3.) Some temptations come under the guise of plaudidulcy and harmlessness, and require recollection before we can discover the craft of the devil; others bring the brand of hell in their forehead, and remain true men down merely with the weight of the prefect advantage thence accruing: these must not be parloyed with a moment, but repelled with abhorrence. (4.) God is alone the object of worship; and whatever else he made the idol of our adoration, whether the horrid forms of monstars in a peppod, or the images of feasts, and virgins, and crucifixes in a poplite chapel, it is no better than falling down to the devil.

5. Satan, now vanquished and unable to resist the commanding word of Jesus, quits the field. He found him more than man, invulnerable in every part, and feels himself a vanquished foe. Thus shall the sons of God through this great Captain of their salvation tread Satan under their feet; enabled to wrestle with spiritual wickedness, and to prevail against the powers of darkness. Though hard the conflict, the victory is sure to all who stand fast, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

6. The angels, the attendant servants of Jesus, now visibly appeared, and ministered unto him. They had beheld, as spectators, the conflict and triumphs of the Lord, and now congratulate his victory, and supply him with those needful refreshments which his exhausted body craved. Note, (1.) Christ alone obtained the victory for us; his own arm hath brought salvation unto him. (2.) Angels minister to the heirs of salvation; we need not fear therefore what devils can do against us. (3.) Though our relief be for a while delayed, it shall affordly come at last. Trust in the Lord therefore, and verily that shall be sad. (4.) Our Master was himself tempted, that he might feel for us, and supply us with all needful support, where we are in like manner sure through it that we should fail.

7. ¶ Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. 13. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum which is upon the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. 17. ¶ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

o. 12—17. Christ now, having entered upon his ministry, began to publish the glad tidings of that salvation he came to procure. Many events are recorded which intervened between his temptations on the mount and his abode at Capernaum: these we shall meet with in the other evangelists. Matthew Nathan forward to the time when John was cast into prison on which occasion Jesus departed from Nazareth to Galilee, and fixed his abode at Capernaum, a city in the tribe of Nephthalis, bordering on Zabulon, situate on the sea of Tiberias, called elsewhere the lake of Gennefareth. The town of Nazareth had rejected him, Luke iv. 29, and therefore God justly leaves them to themselves, and sends his Son and his gospel to a place that will more cheerfully welcome them.

1. Especial notice is here taken of the fulfilment of the Scripture in this removal of our Lord; as Hasias had before of old prophecies, that the people in these regions of Zabulon and Nephthalis, called Galilee of the Gentiles from the intermixture of a multitude of strangers of other nations among the Jews; which sat in darkness, in spiritual darkness and ignorance; saw a great light, Christ the son of righteousness arising with healing in his wings, and bringing life and light, and liberty to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, dead in trespasses and sins till quickened by the effectual power of this Saviour’s grace, and enlightened by the glorious gospel he preached. Note, (1.) They who are destitute of the knowledge of Christ are in darkness respecting all the things that make for their everlasting peace, and near the borders of eternal death. (2.) Christ is to the soul what the sun is to the world; yea more; for he is not only the author of light, but gives the faculty of vision also, without which the light would shine in darkness, and the darkness never comprehend it. (3.) The way in which spiritual light is diffused is by the preaching of the gospel; where this is not truly ministered, darkness must needs reign uncontrolled.

2. We are told what was the subject of his ministry from the time he began to open his commission; Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; the same words and the same subject on which John his harbinger had preached before: for in the great effectual doctrines all faithful ministers of the gospel perfectly agree. Jesus preached repentance, not only as what we must do, but what he would give, without which in vain were every call to repent.

o Mark I. 16. Luke

Matthew 4:48

Luke iv. 33.

18. ¶ And ‘Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: (for they were fishers.) 19. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20. And ’they straightway left their nets and followed him. 21. And ‘going from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them. 22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

o. 18—22. Christ being now about to erect his kingdom in the world, he is pleased to make choice of certain persons to be the constant attendants of his ministry and spectators of his miracles, that they might afterwards go forth to tell of the things they had heard and seen, and spread the gospel of their master to the ends of the earth.

1. The persons he made choice of were such as to human view were very unfit instruments for the work; but the more evident would it be that the power was of God, and not of them, when afterwards they appeared so mighty in word and deed. They were by occupation fishermen, whom Jesus, as he walked by the sea-shore, saw employed in their honest and laborious vocation: the first two were casting a net into the sea, brethren by blood as well as business, their names Simon and Andrew, men unlettered, unknown, and unnoticed; the next two were of the like employment, and with their father Zebedee mending their nets. Note, (1.) Not only to the poor was the gospel preached by our Lord, but from them the great pillars of the church were taken: let them therefore never be despised. (2.) It is happy in a family when brethren in blood are brethren in the Lord, and heirs together of the grace of life.

(3.) Industry is highly commendable, and Jesus wills that all his servants should be found well employed: idleness is the sure characteristic of Satan’s service.

2. They had it seems before, for John i. 37. become acquainted with Christ, but now they are called to constant attendance upon him, Follow me; and, by an image taken from their present employment, he lets them know the more honourable service for which he designed them, I will make you fishery of men, the instruments of gathering souls by the gospel into his church. And what he calls them to he will qualify them for: in following him they shall learn a wisdom which the schools can never teach them. Note, (1.) Unless ministers have a divine call, as well as a human ordination, they will run without being sent, and can expect no blessing in their work. (2.) None can truly preach Christ who have not first faithfully followed him. (3.) If in our ordinary vocations diligence is necessary, how much more needful is it that fishers of men should be indefatigable and laborious, when the gain of immortal souls will so amply repay their toil.

3. These disciples immediately obeyed the call, quitting their employment, and leaving their dearest relatives, to devote and attach themselves entirely to their divine Lord and Master; such power had his constraining word, and so readily and cheerfully did they follow him. Note, (1.) When Christ effectually calls a sinner, such power accompanies his word as draws the heart by irresistible bonds of love unto his blessed Self. (2.) There are seasons when, for the sake of Christ, we must be ready to part with all. (3.) Those who are employed in the ministry have especial need to detach themselves from worldly concerns, that they may give themselves wholly up to their awful truth and charge.

4. ¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, ’teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25. And ’there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.

o. 23—25. We have here,

1. Christ’s labours as a preacher. All Galilee heard his teaching; he appeared publicly in their synagogues, and published the gospel of the kingdom, the glad tidings of salvation, exhorting his hearers to that repentance and newness of life which became those who had received the grace of God in truth.

2. His cures as a physician, wrongly in confirmation of his doctrine. He did good to men’s bodies as well as souls, and by a word healed all manner of sickness and diseases among the people, however violent, inveterate, or of long standing: the incurables of other physicians went from him restored to perfect health and soundness. Nor did he merely relieve the most tormenting disorders of the body, but the more deplorable ones of the mind; the lunatic recovered the perfect exercise of his reason, and the possessed, whose bodies by divine permission Satan’s legions had seized and miserably harassed, were set free, and the soul fends ejected. No painful operations, no tedious course of medicine almost as bad as the malady, were employed: a word, a touch, compleated the cure; and all was freely done, without money and without price. The most wretched, the poorest, never applied in vain. No marvel that his fame spread through the adjacent coasts of Syria, and that multitudes of patients fought this great physician’s help. His cures bespoke his character, and vouchad for his mission; they were immaterial, public, immediate, perfect, such as none could dispute or gainay, his very enemies being judges. And they represent the more noble cures of men’s souls by divine grace from all the diseases of sin, wherein we see the Saviour’s power still displayed.

3. His popularity arising from both. An immense auditory, from all the parts, near and distant, assembled, curious to hear, or desirous to be healed, or convinced by his preaching and miracles, or enviously waiting for an opportunity to destroy him. Note, (1.) The preachers of the gospel will generally be popular; their message engages the attention of an auditory. (2.) Multitudes hear the gospel, but few receive it to the saving of their souls.